# electrify
## English
### Etymology

From electric +‎ -fy.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɪˈlɛktɹɪfaɪ/
** Audio (Southern England):(file)

### Verb

electrify (third-person singular simple present electrifies, present participle electrifying, simple past and past participle electrified)
* (transitive) To supply electricity to; to charge with electricity.
    Synonyms: electricalize, electricize, electrize, energize, galvanize
    to electrify a cable
** 2022 August 10, Philip Haigh, “Scotland switched on to electrification”, in RAIL, number 963, page 35:Those most rural routes will not get overhead wires. As Reeve told the seminar: "Even in my wildest dreams, I can't see a business case for electrifying the Far North Line."
* (transitive) To cause electricity to pass through; to affect by electricity; to give an electric shock to.
    Synonyms: electricalize, electricize, electrize, galvanize, shock, zap
    to electrify a limb, or the body
* (transitive) To adapt (a home, farm, village, city, industry, vehicle, railroad) for electric power.
** 2020 May 20, Richard Clinnick, “Network News: Electrification key to decarbonisation”, in Rail, page 16:Baroness Randerson had asked if, following the publication of the Government's Decarbonising transport: setting the challenge report in March, there had been any consideration to electrify more rail lines - and if so, to prioritise routes between Cardiff and Swansea, in the East Midlands and in the Lake District. All had been planned for electrification before subsequently being cancelled.
* (transitive) To strongly excite, especially by something delightful or inspiring; to thrill.
    Synonyms: galvanize, vitalize; see also Thesaurus:thrill
    Her performance in the play electrified the audience.
** 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter I, in The History of England from the Accession of James II:If the sovereign were now to immure a subject in defiance of the writ of habeas corpus […] the whole nation would be instantly electrified by the news.
** 1876, George Eliot, Daniel Deronda:Try whether she could electrify Mr. Grandcourt by mentioning it to him at table.
** 2009 January 14, Ben Brantley, Jason Zinoman, “In Festival, Biography, Beckett and Blues”, in The New York Times:His poeticized version of a news flash about the advent of AIDS (the disease that killed his mother) electrifies, as it should, like unexpected lightning.
** 2014 October 25, Jeff Gordinier, “In search of the perfect taco”, in T: The New York Times Style Magazine (international edition)‎, page 100:The trailblazing Oaxacan chef Alejandro Ruiz […] has spiked this black-bean sauce with a hidden depth charge of flavor: patches of foliage from a local avocado tree. The leaves electrify the sauce with an unexpected thrum of black licorice.
* (intransitive) To make electric.

#### Derived terms

* de-electrify
* electrifiable
* electrification
* electrifier
* re-electrify
* unelectrify

#### Related terms

* electric
* electricity

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Further reading

* “electrify”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* “electrify”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
* “electrify”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.